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Whatever is perceived through error by an ignorant person is nothing but Brahm — the silver is truly but the * Effect = product, t An empty abstraction with no substance to correspond to it. ( 134 ) mother-of-pearl.* In this way Brahm is ever and again invest ed with forms, but they are nothing but mere names ascribed to Brahm. 240. Therefore the supreme Brahm is the one reality, with out a second, it is pure wisdom, the stainless one, absolute peace without beginning and without end, void of action and the essence of ceaseless bliss. 241. When all the differences created by may a (illusion) have been rejected, (there remains) a self-illumined something which is eternal, fixed, withont stain, immeasurable, without form, unmanifested, without name, indestructible. 242. The wiso know that as the supreme truth which is absolute consciousness, in which are united the knower, the known and the knowledge, infinite and unchangeable. 243. Ahammahas (the true self or the Logos clothed in its own light) is (a manifestation of) all-pervading Parabrahm which can be neither taken hold of nor abandoned, incon ceivable by the mind and inexpressible by speech immeasura ble, without beginning, without end. 244. Brahm and atma which are respectively designated by the terms ' that' and ' thou,' are fully proved to be identical when investigated by the light of Vedic teaching such as tatwamasi.'f 245. The identity of the two thus indicated and predicated, cannot be proved on account of mutually exclusive attributes (that is, when the light of the Logos is manifested in upadhis as the jiva or ego) any more than that of the fire-fly and the sun, of the king and the slave, of the well and the ocean, of the atom and the mountain (Mem). * In reference to the well-known analogy of the erroneous perception of the other-of-pearl as silver. t This great aphorism of the Upanishads is formed of three words tat (that, Parabrahm) twam (thou, jiva or ego) as (art the) Logos or Ishwara. ( 135 ) 246. The distinction is created by conditions (upadhin) , which in themselves are unreal. Listen this Maya (Mula- praJcriti)olthe logos (Ishwara) is the cause of Mahat (the first differentiation of Mulaprakriti) and the five sheaths aro the effect ofjiva (ego). 247. When these two upadhis— those of the Para (the Logos) and the jiva— are completely rejected, there is neither Para nor jiva. The king has his kingdom, the warrior his arms ; on the removal of these there is neither king nor warrior. 248. Hence the sruti (Vedas) says that the quality created (by illusion) in Brahm is eliminated through knowledge, then atma and jiva disappear. 249. Through logical inferences having rejected as unreal every conception of what is visible, created by mind like the notion of the serpent (imagined) in the rope, or like (things seen in) dream ; the identity of atma with Brahm is realized. 250. Therefore, having ascertained these attributes, their identity is established just as that of a figure of speech which loses its original meaning and takes an additional sense. But in order to realize this identity, neither the literal nor the figurative signification is to be lost sight of, both must be united in order to realize the identity of the logos and para- brahm. (Harmony must be sought in the analogy of con traries). ^ 251. 'That Devadatta is myself/— here the ideatity is in dicated by the rejection of the contrary attributes of the terms. Similarly in the saying, < that thoti art,' rejecting the contrary attributes in both terms, identity is established. 252. The wise know the perfect identity of the atma with parabrahm. In hundreds of great aphorisms is declared the identity of Brahm and the atma. 253, 254. Renounce the false conception you have formed and understand through thy purified intellect that thou {atma) art that subtle, self-existent, Brahm which is perfect knowledge and indefinable as ether. ( 136 ) 255. Just as the pot made from clay is to be considered clay, so Sadat-ma (the ego) evolved out of Sat (Parabrahm), is to be regarded as sat, and every thing is sat, and there is nothing existing apart from it ; therefore thou art ' that' — absolute peace, without stain, great, — Brahm without a second. 256. Just as in dreams the place, time, objects and intellec tion are all unreal, so also this world, created by ignorance is unreal, and so are also this body, senses, vital airs, egoism > etc. Therefore understand thou art ' that ' — absolute peace, without stain, great, — Brahm without a second. 257. Realize that thou art ' that' — Brahm which is far be yond caste, wordly wisdom, family and clan, devoid of name form, qualities and defects, beyond time, space and objects of consciousness. 258. Realize that thou art ' that' — Brahm which is su preme, beyond the range of all speech, but which may be known through the eye of pure wisdom. It is pure, absolute consciousness, the eternal substance. 259. Realize that thou art 'that' — Brahm which is un touched by the six human infirmities* ; it is realised in the heait of Yogis,f it cannot be perceived by the senses, it is im perceptible by intellect or mind. 260. Realize that thou art ' that' — Brahm on which rests the world, created through ignorance, it (Brahm) is self-sus tained, it is different from (relative) truth, and from untruth, indivisible, beyond mental representation. 261. Realize that thou art ' that' — Brahm which is devoid of birth, growth, change, loss of substance, disease and death, indestructible, the cause of the evolution of the universe, its preservation and destruction. 262. Realize that thou art ' that' — Brahm which is the ces sation of all differentiation, which never changes its nature and is as unmoved as a waveless ocean, eternally unconditioned and undivided. * Hunger, thirst, greed, delusion, decay and death. + i.e., in Samadhi. ( 137 ) 263. Realize that thou art 'that' — Brahm which is the one only reality, the cause of Multiplicity, the cause that elimi nates other causes, different from the law of cause and effect. 264. Realize that thou art ' that' — Brahm which is without modification, very great, indestructible, the supreme, different from all destructible elements and the indestructible logos, eternal, indestrucible bliss, and free from stain. 265. Realize that thou art 'that'— Brahm, that reality which manifests as many through the illusions of name, form, qualities, change, but is yet ever unchanged like gold (in the various forms of golden ornaments.) 266. Realize that thou art 'that' — Brahm which alone shines, which is, which is the one essence and beyond the logos, all-pervading, uniform, truth, consciousness, bliss, having no end, indestructible. 267. By known logical inferences and by intuition realize thyself as Brahm, j ust as the meaning of a sentence is under stood ; the certainty of this truth will be established without doubt just as (the certainty of) the water in the palm of the hand. 268. Having realized the supremely pure truth, which is perfect knowledge, remaining ever constant in the atma as a king in battle depends on his army, merge this objective uni verse in Brahm. 269. Brahm, the truth, the supreme, the only one, and different from both (relative) truth and untruth, is in the centre* of wisdom ; whoever dwells in that centre has no rebirth. 270. Even if the substance (or truth) is intellectually grasped, the desire which has no beginning ( expressed in the words) "I am the actor and also the enjoyer" is strong and firm, and is the cause of conditioned existence. That desire may be got rid of with great effort by the knowledge of the *Literally the cavity between the eye-brows. ( 138 ) Logos. The sages on earth call the getting rid of that desire (literally thinning away, desire being compared to a rope) emancipation. 271. The erroneous conception that attributes one thing to another, such as that atma is the agoism, body, senses, etc. must be rejected by the wise through devotion to atma.* 272. Knowing that atma as the witness of mind and its operation, and having realized through pure conduct, that atma is the self; abandon the perception of non-spirit as spirit. 273.